UK & World News

Sky Marks WWI Centenary With Daily Tweets

Imagine if a war of the magnitude of the 1914-1918 conflict broke out today.

From a military point of view it would obviously be an entirely different form of combat than the one fought on the battlefields of Flanders.

But journalistically it would also be an exercise of an entirely different nature.

As we have seen in recent conflicts in the Gulf, the Balkans and Afghanistan, television has revolutionised the reporting of modern warfare.

Sky News correspondents and camera crews would be deployed across the world to provide live coverage and other content on your TVs and mobile devices.

But in this digital age, social media - principally Twitter - would play an important role too.

Our correspondents - with their hundreds of thousands of followers - would be tweeting constantly.

They would reflect the latest developments from, at first, the great capitals of Europe as the continent readied for war and then from the front lines as they unfurled in the West, the East and Gallipoli.

It is this most modern form of journalism that we are seeking to replicate with this project.

We have opted for a very simple approach: @skynewsWW1.

One tweet, every day from today - the day 100 years ago when Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated - until November 11, 2018, the centenary of Armistice Day, when World War One was finally declared over.

Over the course of 1,598 tweets we are seeking to mark not only the war's most significant events but also to try to illuminate the less well known moments, instances and pieces of history that also took place.

This is an evolving project.

We hope that our viewers, readers and followers will engage with us, submit their ideas and help us build what we hope will be a unique timeline over the next four years.

Today, the Queen will honour WWI veterans on the 100th anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo which helped spark the conflict.

She will be joined by the Duke of Edinburgh at the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London for a Drumhead Service of Remembrance led by the Bishop of London.

Meanwhile, David Cameron, Alex Salmond and the Princess Royal joined thousands of visitors in Stirling at the sixth annual Armed Forces Day.